From Philip Sent Thu, Nov 27th 1997, 20:33
From Philip Sent Thu, Nov 27th 1997, 20:33
I'll second Lance's recommendation of the IT picture disk, Era Vulgaris
Ncoded. (I picked this up because I was thinking it was affiliated with
Interdimensional Transmissions. It's not.)
A remix album in ridiculously limited quantities (555--neighbor of the
beast), of someone--Ivan Iusco (apparently Italian) called It. The
record's a picture disk, but it's a pity they chose such a cheesy design.
I won't elaborate on that further than mentioning that colorschemes like
this one--rainbow technicolor--smack of bad trance records and rub me quite
the wrong way.
A fine thing, then, to discover a really, really interesting piece of
music. Notes on the remixers' versions:
1. Nebula (Elvio Trampus). Percussive, fairly driving; punctuated with
synth stabs and a nifty vocal sample i can't make out.
2. Lassigue Bendthaus. A mellowish, Clear-like (or Dot-like) vibe with
plenty of subtle complexities that keep it from slipping into complacency.
Nice piano touches.
3. Red Sector A (Madel). Mid-tempo, a little plodding; a minor-key chord
progression that turns into a new-wavey arpeggio. Sounds like the
closing-credits music to an 80s teen flick. That may be good or bad,
depending on your point of view.
4. Attrition (Martin Bowers). Again, melodic, a little new-wavey, a little
middle-of-the-road.
5. Monomorph (Fabrizio d'Arcangelo). A standout track: David
Kristianesque, clattery drum'n'bass. Off-putting & frenetic. Too bad that
this is the only track on my copy that skips. :( (Is this the same fellow
as Rephlex's D'Arcangelo?)
6. The Black Dog (Ken Downie). Lo-fi and dubby like I might expect to find
on a Leaf or Lo record. Heavy on the reverb, the minor-key strings
hovering in the wings of the last track are here put to a more emphatic,
but just as ominous, effect.
7. Lustmord (Brian Lustmord). another standout. i can't say why--it
doesn't do anything particularly notable or radical, but it's dark and
ominous and dubby and yet with cheesy overtones that just somehow work.
also features the mactalker voice (you know: from "bleeecccchhhh") saying
"saturate the system, let the darkness fall," all distorted and dubbed out,
and it's pretty fucking funny. in fact, i just realized, it even says,
over and over, "dub," with heavy reverb treatment, which is funnier yet.
8. Astral Body (Aldo Bergamasco). Squelchy techno with some likeness to C.
Vogel, perhaps. Dry and driving and set against a faint backdrop of
subtle, luminous harmony. Another fine track. I also found it to mix
quite nicely between a track by Suction, into something off the new Plug
Research 2x12" comp. Just to give you an idea of the vein it's in.
Overall, if you see it--pick it up.
phil
p h i l i p h u g h s h e r b u r n e - - - - - -
b r o w n u n i v e r s i t y - - - - - - - - -
4 0 1 . 2 7 6 . 0 2 1 8 - - - - - - - - - - - -
"everywhere, organized music is traversed by a line of abolition--just as a
language of sense is traversed by a line of escape--in order to liberate a
living and expressive material that speaks for itself and has no need of
being put into a form."
--deleuze & guattari